Tobacco is grown in fields, and each tobacco plant comprises a single stalk with a plurality of short branches and leaves thereon. A mature tobacco plant typically weighs from 12 to 20 or as much as 25 pounds or more.
In the harvesting of tobacco as practiced in the past a spear, more commonly known as a stick, is provided for collecting the tobacco. Each stick is on the order of 4 feet long, and is sharpened on both ends. One end of the stick is inserted into the ground with the stick in an upright position. A hollow metal tip in the form of a cone with a narrow angle is placed over the upper end of the stick. A man then cuts a tobacco plant and impales it on the stick. Six tobacco plants or stalks are sequentially impaled on a stick, and this occasionally may rise to seven stalks if they are small.
In accordance with the prior art practice the tobacco stalks are normally cut near the base by a small hand tool resembling a hatchet, and are sequentially impaled on a stick. This requires the handling of a considerable weight of tobacco. The sticks are left in an upright position in the field for something on the order of two to four days in upright position to allow the tobacco to wilt. Most of the tobacco sunburns, but the burn is removed by dew overnight. Much of the tobacco is shaded from the sun by other portions of the tobacco so there is an uneven wilt of the tobacco. Approximately 50% of the weight of the tobacco is lost as sap and other moisture leaves the tobacco in the sun. This results in a stick of tobacco weighing as much as 80 pounds or more, and this must be hand loaded onto a wagon. A certain amount of skill and a considerable amount of physical strength is necessary to cut the tobacco and to impale the stalks on the sticks.
If it should rain during the two to four day period that the tobacco is left to wilt on the sticks, a great deal of mud will be splashed onto the tobacco, thereby materially lessening the value thereof.
A typical harvesting crew is comprised of eight persons. Two are required to cut the tobacco by hand and to impale it on the sticks. Three workers distribute the sticks through the harvesting area. Subsequently the wilted tobacco is picked up one worker is required on the ground, one on the wagon for loading, and the driver.
Thus, it will be seen that a great deal of hand labor has been required in the prior art harvesting of tobacco. At least the two workers cutting the tobacco and impaling it on the sticks must be possessed of a certain amount of skill and of a considerable amount of physical strength. The driver also requires a certain amount of skill.